# 1945 in Canada

Events from the year 1945 in Canada.

## Incumbents
### Crown

* Monarch – George VI

### Federal government

* Governor General – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone
* Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
* Chief Justice – Thibaudeau Rinfret (Quebec)
* Parliament – 19th (until 16 April) then 20th (from 6 September)

### Provincial governments
#### Lieutenant governors

* Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
* Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – William Culham Woodward
* Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
* Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William George Clark (until November 1) then David Laurence MacLaren
* Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Ernest Kendall
* Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Albert Edward Matthews
* Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Bradford William LePage (until May 18) then Joseph Alphonsus Bernard
* Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Eugène Fiset
* Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Archibald P. McNab (until February 27) then Thomas Miller (February 27 to June 20) then Reginald John Marsden Parker (from June 22)

#### Premiers

* Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
* Premier of British Columbia – John Hart
* Premier of Manitoba – Stuart Garson
* Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
* Premier of Nova Scotia – A.S. MacMillan (until September 8) then Angus Macdonald
* Premier of Ontario – George A. Drew
* Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
* Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
* Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

### Territorial governments
#### Commissioners

* Controller of Yukon – George A. Jeckell
* Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Charles Camsell

## Events

* 1944–1945: World War II: Japan's Special Balloon Regiment launched 9,000 Fu-Go balloon bombs towards the Pacific Northwest, intended to cause panic, by starting forest fires. Six casualties, a woman and her five children in American state of Oregon, were reported. The ten metre-wide balloons contained 540 cubic metres of hydrogen and reached as far inland as Manitoba. The Japanese project was declared a failure and abandoned, after six months.
* January 8 – Brantford, Ontario becomes the first Canadian community to fluoridate its water supply.
* January 20 – World War II: The first conscripted Canadian soldiers arrive overseas
* February 8 – World War II: The Anglo-Canadian Operation Veritable launched in the Netherlands
* February 24 – Radio Canada International begins operation
* February 25 – Sergeant Aubrey Cosens posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
* March 1 – Major Frederick Albert Tilston wins the Victoria Cross
* March 29 – The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan is shut down
* April 16 – World War II: HMCS Esquimalt is sunk off Halifax by the German submarine U-190.
* May 7 – The crew of HMCS Uganda vote themselves out of the Pacific war
* May 8 – VE Day sees celebrations across the nation, but also the Halifax Riot.
* June 4 – 1945 Ontario general election: George Drew's PCs win a majority
* June 11 – Federal election: Mackenzie King's Liberals win a third consecutive majority
* June 26 – Canada is a founding member of the United Nations
* August 2 – The Canadian Armoured Corps becomes the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps
* August 15 – VJ Day marks the end of the Second World War. Over a million Canadians had fought in the conflict and 42,000 were killed.
* September 5 – The defection of Soviet embassy clerk Igor Gouzenko reveals a Soviet spy ring in Canada.
* September 8 – Angus Macdonald becomes premier of Nova Scotia for the second time, replacing Alexander MacMillan
* September 12 – The Ford Motor employees in Windsor, Ontario, go on strike.
* October 23 – Jackie Robinson signs a contract with the Montreal Royals baseball team.

### Full date unknown

* Family allowance payments are introduced.
* Canada has its first trade surplus with the United States.

## Arts and literature

* The Tin Flute (Bonheur d'occasion) by Gabrielle Roy.

## Sport

* February 25 – Maurice Richard sets a new record for the most goals (50) in a single ice hockey season.
* April 22 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win their fifth Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 3.
* April 23 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Toronto St. Michael's Majors win their second Memorial Cup by defeating the Southern Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Moose Jaw Canucks 4 games to 1. All games were played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
* September 29 – The Calgary Stampeders are established
* December 1 – The Toronto Argonauts win their sixth Grey Cup by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 35 to 0 in the 33rd Grey Cup played in Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

## Births
### January to March

* January 15 - Bonnie Burnard, novelist (d. 2017)
* January 18 - Steven Truscott, exonerated murderer
* January 21 - Len Derkach, politician
* January 23 - Mike Harris, politician and 22nd Premier of Ontario
* January 27
** Harold Cardinal, writer, political leader, teacher, negotiator and lawyer (d. 2005)
** Joe Ghiz, politician and 29th Premier of Prince Edward Island (d. 1996)
* February 5 - Nancy McCredie, track and field athlete
* February 19
** Jim Bradley, politician
** Bill Casey, politician
* February 20 - Donald McPherson, figure skater (d. 2001)
* March 4 - Patrick Boyer, politician and university professor
* March 6 - John A. MacNaughton, financier and executive (d. 2013)
* March 17 - Dave Bailey, track and field athlete (d. 2022)
* March 26 - Diane McGifford, politician
* March 28 - Bobby Schmautz, ice hockey player (d. 2021)

### April to June

* April 12 - Doug Riley, keyboard player and producer (d. 2007)
* April 14 - John S. Hunkin, banker (d. 2025)
* May 3 – Leo Panitch, political scientist (d. 2020)
* May 27 - Bruce Cockburn, folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter
* June 11 - Robert Munsch, children's writer
* June 16 - Lucienne Robillard, politician and minister
* June 20 - Anne Murray, singer

### July to September

* August 4 - Ben Sveinson, politician
* August 11 - David Walsh, businessman, disgraced head of Bre-X (d. 1998)
* August 12 - Mary Stewart, swimmer and world record breaker
* August 15 - Rosann Wowchuk, politician and Deputy Premier of Manitoba
* September 21 - Bjarni Tryggvason, engineer and astronaut (d. 2022)

### October to December

* October 15 - John Murrell, playwright (d. 2019)
* November 5 - Jacques Lanctôt, member of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ)
* November 11 - Norman Doyle, politician
* November 12 - Neil Young, singer-songwriter, musician and film director
* December 4 - Roberta Bondar, neurologist and Canada's first female astronaut
* December 24 - John Till, musician (d. 2022)

### Full date unknown

* Felix Partz, artist and co-founder of the artistic collective General Idea (d. 1994)

## Deaths

* January 15 – Kate Simpson Hayes, playwright and legislative librarian (b. 1856)
* March 2 - Emily Carr, artist and writer (b. 1871)
* March 23 - Walter Charles Murray, first President of the University of Saskatchewan (b. 1866)
* July 17 - Adjutor Rivard, lawyer, writer, judge and linguist (b. 1868)
* October 24 - Franklin Carmichael, painter and Group of Seven member (b. 1890)
* November 1 - Marie Lacoste Gérin-Lajoie, feminist and social activist (b. 1867)
* December 10 - Joseph-Octave Samson, businessperson, politician and 28th Mayor of Quebec City (b. 1862)